Bill and Lori Bowling, with their dog Huckleberry, from Texas, visit and take pictures at Soldiers' National Cemetery on Friday Dec. 25, 2015 in Gettysburg. The Bowlings were traveling across the country from Colorado for their holiday vacation. Shane Dunlap, The Evening Sun

Bill Bowling, of Texas, kneels down to read the name of a World War II soldier on a headstone at Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg on Friday Dec. 25, 2015 in Gettysburg. Bowling was with his wife Lori traveling across the country for the holiday. Shane Dunlap, The Evening Sun

Two figures stepped out of the mist Christmas morning onto the hill overlooking dozens of headstones, each adorned with a wreath of evergreens.

Only the bright pops of ruby bows cut through the gray fog at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg on Christmas.

Texas resident Bill Bowling and his wife Lori, along with their service dog "Huckleberry," had been travelling across the back roads of the United States since September.

They saved their trip to Gettysburg especially for Christmas Day, Bowling said. The former Marine had not been to Gettysburg in more than 20 years but he still had all of the old maps from the Gettysburg National Military Park.

"We thought that Arkansas was beautiful but then we got to Pennsylvania," he said, looking out at the rolling hills of the park. Bowling wandered through the rows of headstones, occasionally lifting up the wreath to read the name below.

The Bowlings were not the only people to visit the cemetery Friday. About four or five families could be seen strolling through the mist on the uncharacteristically warm Christmas afternoon. Several occasionally stopped to gaze at the decorations that had been placed on each soldiers' grave by the Sgt. Mac Memorial Foundation earlier in December.

California resident Samantha Gallo was visiting her family in Gettysburg when someone made the suggestion to go for a hike to walk off the extra holiday calories. The warm weather and festive scenery prompted the family of five to head to the cemetery.

Another visitor, Maryland resident Yan Gu, told his family friend Kate Geng that it would be a gamble to see if anything was open in Gettysburg when they made the spontaneous choice to drive up Christmas morning, he said.

Geng, who is originally from Beijing, China, said that before moving to Texas this year, she had heard that the United States, a relatively young country in global context, had little history to offer. Gu, who has visited Gettysburg more than five times, suggested she make the trip to the scene of the famed Gettysburg Address for a little dose of American history, he said.

"Some say the U.S. must have no history, but it's not true because I've seen it here and in museums," she said, walking along the path of the cemetery, lined for the season with firs and holly trees. "In my history text book, Gettysburg is a turning point in the Civil War, so I really wanted to come see it."

The small clusters of people nodded as they ambled by one another. Though they were strangers to each other and only visitors at the cemetery, each group made sure to exchange a cheerful "Merry Christmas" as they passed.